NHL commissioner Bettman familiar with both Bills, Foley and Laurie

PITTSBURGH — Whoever gets the NBA expansion franchise in Las Vegas will do so having done business with Gary Bettman.

The NHL commissioner obviously knows Bill Foley, the owner of the Vegas Golden Knights. He also knows Bill Laurie, who along with his wife Nancy, owned the St. Louis Blues. Both Foley and Laurie are reportedly the finalists to be granted the NBA expansion rights to Las Vegas with the price tag, including the construction of a new arena for the team to play, reportedly around $13 billion.

The NBA is expected to announce its plans to expand before the end of 2026, perhaps in the coming weeks.

Bettman, who was in Pittsburgh Tuesday to take in the Golden Knights-Penguins game at PPG Paints Arena, said both men are of high character and he believes would do well with an NBA team in Las Vegas.

“Bill ran a first class organization (in St. Louis),” Bettman said of Laurie, who owned the Blues from 1999 to 2011. “We had no complaints about the things he did when he owned the Blues.”

Bettman has not talked to NBA commissioner Adam Silver about the possibility of pro basketball coming to Las Vegas. And he won’t takes sides as to which Bill would be the more successful one.

“I think he’d say that first and foremost, he’s a basketball guy,” Bettman said of Bill Laurie.” We wish him good luck.

“I won’t predict or prognosticate on how he’ll do or how another basketball team would do in Vegas. I’m more than happy with the Vegas Golden Knights.”

Back in 2000, Laurie made an unsuccessful bid to acquire the Vancouver Grizzlies and move the NBA team to St. Louis. The Grizzlies were eventually sold to Michael Heisley and left Canada for Memphis in 2001. He also failed in attempts to acquire the Denver Nuggets and the Charlotte Hornets.

When asked to compare the ownership styles of the two Bills, Bettman smiled and said, “I think Bill Foley had a little more success.”

As for NHL expansion, Bettman said there was no news to report. Houston, Austin, Texas and Atlanta have been mentioned prominently as candidates for the NHL should it decide to grow from its current 32 teams.

“Still working through it,” he said.

Regarding the present, Bettman was asked about empty seats in NHL arenas this season as rising costs and a struggling economy may be keeping fans from traveling to watch their team play. It wasn’t mentioned specifically, but the Golden Knights’ sellout streak which came to an end last month after 420 games, including playoffs when just 15,977 attended a Thursday night game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at T-Mobile Arena, which officially seats 17,367 for hockey.

“Overall, attendance is up,” he said. “You’ve had a couple of instances where you’ve had some empty seats. But it’s not the same reason in each place. But attendance is up.”